Human rights issues could thwart commercial agreements between Colombia and the EU, said the deputy leader of the French National Assembly on Monday.
The deputy Alain Marty, who chairs the friendship group France - Colombia, spent the last few days visiting the South American country to meet with politicians and collect information with regard to a proposed free trade agreement between the European Union and Colombia.
Relations between France and Colombia were complicated up until the release of Franco-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt, exchange between the two countries is now much easier, Marty was reported saying by newspaper El Tiempo.
With regard to the FTA, Marty emphasized that there were still some difficulties, primarily in the realms of human rights in Colombia, which for the EU is a very important aspect when considering a trade agreement with the country.
The deputy went as far as to suggest that a disagreement between the two national governments over human rights could completely derail any commerical deals.
According to Marty, France sees Colombia as continuously struggling with issues of displacement and national security and he highlighted that in Europe there is a lack of evidence that Colombian authorities are making an effort to resolve these issues. There are also NGO's in Europe who continue to reveal discouraging information about Colombia.
Marty concluded by saying that he suspected Colombia, like innumberable other countries, has many promblems that it has yet to confront and that it needed to do so in order to be able to move forward successfully.
azunoman
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... What Colombia needs are partners that will help them solve the internal issues that have plagued them for the last 45 years....instead..the EU, and Britain in particular throw out humanitarian issues....but really do nothing to help solve them.....Britain release a denouncement of Colombian human rights problems and then pulled out whatever military personell they had here, but left the funding the provided for land mine removal....it it wasn't for Princess Di...Colombian wouldn't have gotten that.....then two weeks after they pulled out they released a statement praising the humanitarian efforts in Colombia....what a joke.... |
PuebloFuerte
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... Colombia unfortunately is isolated in its struggle for peace. These developed countries that preach human rights don't even take the initiative to solve the major source of Colombia's problems...Cocaine consumption. They have co-responsibility, which they don't acknowledge or take action on. It's Doctors, lawyers, stock brokers and High society in general that consume cocaine in these countries. They buy fair trade products and recycle, but have no clue of the damage their drug activities is causing to an entire people. With the exception of a few conscious organizations, Colombia is unfortunately very much alone in this....how Hipocritical! |
